“This doesn’t even feel like San Francisco,” the four-top next to me at Ama marveled. In some ways I disagreed with my neighbors — three out of the four had tech podcasts, and Daniel Lurie was there — but in other ways, they were spot on. Nowhere in San Francisco have I spotted as many fur coats, sultry evening gowns or leather pants. Ama — legal name Ama by Brad Kilgore — is also a toomami restaurant if ever there were one. The photogenic brioche cube is topped with a tomato miso paste and served with a side of “umami butter.” There’s soy in the butterscotch and mushrooms in the bourbon. Where the umami tsunami really ends up working is in the steaks, which are dry aged with koji ($65 for an 8 oz. flat iron, and they get more expensive from there). They’re served with a “brown butter miso condiment” because of course they are, but the meat itself is so flavorful and well seasoned, the orange-tinted goop isn’t really necessary.
Ama by Brad Kilgore. Three Transamerica, Montgomery St., San Francisco. amabybradkilgore.com
Of all the winter vegetables, kohlrabi was the one that I dreaded appearing in my CSA box most. How many ways — and for how many months — can you prepare it? If only I’d have consulted Mark Liberman. At Mägo recently, he served a half-moon of kohlrabi layered with raw scallop and quince (part of a 10-course tasting menu, $90 Tuesday through Thursday, $125 Friday and Saturday). The slippery scallop, crisp kohlrabi and mellow sweetness of all the ingredients, thinly sliced and stacked like a crepe cake, made for an unexpected, elegant dish. Kohlrabi may not be my muse, but perhaps it’s Liberman’s. I see on Mägo’s website that he’s now pairing it with tuna, Melogold grapefruit and almonds.
Mägo. 3762 Piedmont Ave., Oakland. magorestaurant.com…